At this point, the girls have pretty much taken over my husband’s iPad. It is filled with kids apps, and Sunday mornings in our house consist of the girls fighting over playing on the iPad while mom and dad read the paper.
And while the iPad is nearly full, we are constantly on the look out for new apps. There are about a zillion to choose from, and while my girls gravitate toward anything pink and frilly, mom wants something with at least some redeeming educational value. I also really like free apps because, let’s face it, the reason I am always looking for new apps is that they seem to tire of them quickly.
The newest app in our hose is SunnyBell’s Florida Dairy Farm Adventure. I have to admit I was a little doubtful in regard to the fun factor of an app created by the Florida Dairy Farmers, but I was really wrong. While iTunes is filled with junky apps with sub-par graphics, SunnyBell is adorable with fantastic graphics and tons of interactive features.
Not only do my girls like it, but there is high educational value, so I like it too.
Oh, and it is free!
SunnyBell is a Florida cow, and the main part of the app is a digital book about her journey to learn about dairy farming. I like that the book has both “read to me” and “read to myself” options. The story is still a little too advanced as far as reading material for my new reader, so I let her choose to have the book read to her.
What makes the SunnyBell digital book different is that in addition to the story, most pages also include interactive features. For example, turning on a switch to fan off the cows or milking the cows. And the girls love the page where they can feed the cows until they burp. Oh boy.
While I correctly assumed the app would be age appropriate for my Kindergartner, I was surprised by how much my toddler likes it too. I downloaded the app and played with it myself during nap time, and by the time I was done playing with it I knew Sissy would like it. So after nap, she was the first to try it out.
SunnyBell is quite entertaining to my toddler, and she had no problem navigating the book and finding the extras hidden on the pages.
Later when K came home, she had her chance to try out the app.
Within a few minutes, baby sister realized what K was up to and she wanted to play too.
When I asked K has thoughts on the app she replied, “I l-o-v-e-i-t!” (She’s into spelling everything she can these days.
Within the storybook, there are two “cow quizzes” based on the story’s content. While I really like the idea of the quizzes, this is the only part of the app that I think is lacking. The quizzes are not read aloud, so my daughter was unable to take them on her own. Later we did them together, but I wish they were read aloud.
Still, I like the educational part!
In addition to the storybook, the app also has a puzzle, word search and coloring pages. My toddler is crazy for puzzles, so she keeps doing the puzzle over and over. And, of course, both girls like the coloring pages.
The word search is still a bit too advanced for my girls. (Which means older kids will enjoy the app too.) My oldest loves word searches, but while there are three levels of difficulty even level one includes backward and upside down words. As a Kindergartener, she doesn’t yet have the ability to read a word backward and diagonal.
The real test was when Sunday rolled around. Out of all of the apps they have, would the choose to play SunnyBell on their own? Yes they did.
After playing with the app, I checked out the SunnyBell website and was excited to find even more activities. There are several pages of free printable worksheets and coloring pages. A great way to keep the app excitement and learning going offline.
SunnyBell’s Florida Dairy Farm Adventure is available from iTunes for free download. You can also learn more about the app on the SunnyBell’s website.
iPad Mini Giveaway
One lucky winner will win a 16G WiFi iPad Mini!
To enter, please use the Rafflecopter below. Giveaway ends March 27, 2014.
I will share it with my daughter.
I would share this with my kids
I will share this with my daughter.
I will share with my daughter, and my best friend for her little one.
I wish that I had an apple device so that I could download this app, it looks like a great learning tool.
Going to share this with my little people, I think they will really enjoy it.
I will share with my niece and nephew
MY kids would love this app. They love farm stuff when they play on the iPad!
Cute! I’ll show this to my girls. They’ll love it.
My daughter babysits a toddler. I will share this with her.
nice
I will share the app with my son.
I will share it with my beautiful granddaughter! I love it!
I will share it with my twin cousins they’re 3 months old and are gonna LOVE IT!
I would share this with my kids
id love to shared with my 2 special needs kids, this could really help them ty for the chance
I would share this with my son!
I will share this with my daughter.
With my cutey son Tim!!
MY 2 sons and daughter
With my lovely kids!
I will share the app with my son
I will share this app with my grandson.
love that it is free and my son loves it
I will be sharing with my cousins.
With my brother kids !!
I really like that it has enough content to move across a fairly wide age range. The read to me and read alone options are great!
I will share this app with my children.
I will share with my autistic grandkids
I babysit 3 granddaughters, ages 4 to 7. They will love this.
I am sharing it with my daughter
I would share it with my two granddaughters
I would share it with the kids I babysit.
This looks fun. I am going to try and see if I can get it on the iphone. My daughter is always looking for new games.
I will show the app to my girls. My first daughter is just learning how to use the iPad.
Looks like a cute game. I like that it is educational.
This would be great for my nephew.
Don’t you just love a good App? I know I do!
I will share the app with my niece!
I think I’ll give this a whirl with my daughter
I will share this with my son
I wanted you to know I joined the “General” mailing list, I was unsure which of the two to join, Thank you, Mary
Thank you for having this giveaway.
I will share this app with my 9 & 10 year old daughters! =)
I shared with my husband and my son
I will share the app with my 2 sons!
This would be awesome to win. I had a tablet but had to sell it last year when I lost my job…Thanks so much for the giveaway~
PS Your girls are adorable! Enjoyed seeing the pics of them!
i will be sharing this with my grandbabies 🙂 thanks
I will share the app with all the children in my life. We had a farm growing up and I would like them to stay connected in some way! 🙂
I’ll share the app with my nieces and nephews.
what a great way to welcome spring.
I’ll share it with my nephew
I will share it with my daughter!
I would share the app with my son.
Kitchen gadgets!
My 4 grandbabies will get a kick out of this!
Thank you so much for ur kindness. I never own iPad mini, this would be great to have. “Fingers crossed”
I would share this with my son and husband
I will share the app with my 4 year old nephew. Thanks for a great giveaway!
My Grandson will love this
I’ll share the app with my kids!
We don’t have any i-devices to download the app to. 🙁 But it sounds great! Your girls remind me of mine playing on the tablet. 🙂
Thank You for hosting this Awesome !! giveaway for us 🙂
It would work great for my nephew!
I can’t wait to share this app with my four year old niece!
My son loves moo moo from small age and I would love to share this with him
My two girls will like to share this app. Thanks.
I think this sounds like a great app for my daughters. My husband is adamant that all kids apps on our iPad have some educational value, just like you. Thanks for the great tip.
I would love to share this app with my son
I will share it with my 6 yr old cousin.
I will share this app with my little sister.
I would love to share this app with my son as he loves cows and dairy animals
I will share with my two young boys, ages 3 and 6!
thank you for the chance at winning an IPad mini. I have been trying and trying to win one for my daughter she really needs one for school but we just can’t afford it so Thank you again! You guys ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sharing the good fortune 🙂
Happy Spring Everyone
Thank you so much. My son will love this.
Yay … sharing for all!!!
i would share it with my 2 sons and my daughter.
My son loves this app and I would love to share this with him
I am going to share this with my nephew!
I would share this app with my son Logan.
I shared it with my aunt who shared it with her kids.
If we had an ipad, I’d totally download this.
What a cute app! My son is going to love it.
My two boys might have fun with the app.
That seems like a nice app. I would really love to win this iPad mini. My son keeps taking my iPad away from me to play games. He needs his own. 🙂
Oh my kids will love this! We live right by a dairy farm.
I will share the app with my niece’s kids.
I’d share with my daughters, they’d love this game!
My nieces would love this! 🙂
Sharing the app with my three kiddos
I will share with my nephews!
I would share this app with my daughter, Peyton 🙂
I’ll share the app with my family.
This app looks adorable!
What a fun app! I cannot wait to show my son!
My daughter’s 6 and 13 will use it 🙂
I LOVE following you on Facebook and Instagram, love all your posts. LOVE the deals and insider tips you post often. LOVE “joining” you on all your adventures and VIP trips you post, too! Fingers crossed it’s my “lucky” night :)The Suburban MOM is AWESOME!
Awe Crystal you are so cute!!! 🙂 Good luck!!
Sounds great for my 5-yo.
This would be great for my 4 year twins!
It looks like a great app, hopefully I will win the iPad to give it a try. I think kids app do teach a lotz
I’d love to share the app with my goddaughter!
I have to say your kids are sooo adorable
Awe thanks Trisha!!! I adore checking out pictures of your cuties too 🙂
Congrats to the winner!
My granddaughter would love